Seven Lake Tahoe ski resorts are running their lifts on Thanksgiving day and the group will be joined by one more Friday: Sugar Bowl.
Located off Interstate 80 at the Norden exit, Sugar Bowl says it will have top-to-bottom skiing and riding on 1,500 vertical feet of terrain. The Mt. Lincoln Express, Christmas Tree, and Nob Hill chairlifts will operate from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Access to the resort will be through both the Gondola and by parking at Judah Lodge for a short walk into the Village.
Judah Lodge and Jerome Hill Express will also be open to provide access to the mid-mountain lifts and to the Village Base. Judah Lodge services will include equipment rental, retail and tickets, plus food and beverage. For up to the minute operational updates, visit www.sugarbowl.com/openingday.
Royal Gorge, located near Sugar Bowl, will also open Friday and offer 40 km of groomed cross-country trails from Summit and Village Stations with full services from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Visit www.royalgorge.com for complete opening day information.
Recent cold storms have delivered more than 2½ of natural snow to Sugar Bowl, which has been supplemented by continuous snowmaking over the last two weeks, creating some of the best opening day conditions in the west.
“We are thrilled to be opening early again this season with fantastic early season conditions. With more snow in the forecast, we will be looking to open more terrain in coming days,” stated Greg Dallas, Sugar Bowl president and CEO.
For opening day lift ticket pricing, visit www.sugarbowl.com/openingday.
The Village and Judah Rentals and Retail shops, as well as the Finish Line Tuning Shop will be open from 8:00am to 5:00pm. Ski and Board School will be offering Private Lessons and First Timer Lessons out of the Village Base Area only.
The number of Lake Tahoe ski resorts will grow to 10 Saturday when both Kirkwood Mountain and Sierra-at-Tahoe join the party. Five resorts opened Wednesday – Heavenly, Northstar California, Alpine Meadows, Squaw Valley and Soda Springs. Both Mt. Rose and Boreal Mountain were the first Tahoe-area resorts to start running their lifts Nov. 18.
According to Bryan Allegretto of Snow Forecaster, Thanksgiving should be nice day, but a storm is likely to hit Friday evening and continue into the next morning. Allegretto says the storm could be very modest or bring up to a foot of snow, which the European model is projecting.
A third storm should hit the Tahoe region Saturday night or Sunday morning. The storm severity is again unpredictable, dropping as little as 6 inches or nearly 3 feet of fresh snow. Regardless of the snow totals, most Tahoe ski resorts can continue to make snow, thanks to the continuation of low temperatures.
Tentative Lake Tahoe Opening Dates
- Rose: open Nov. 18
- Boreal Mountain: open Nov. 18
- Northstar: open Nov. 23
- Heavenly: open Nov. 23
- Squaw Valley: open Nov. 23
- Alpine Meadows: open Nov. 23
- Soda Springs: open Nov. 23
- Sugar Bowl: Nov. 25
- Sierra-at-Tahoe: Nov. 26
- Kirkwood: Nov. 26
- Homewood: Dec. 9
- Tahoe Donner: Dec. 9
- Diamond Peak: Dec. 15
- Granlibakken: Dec. 16
- Donner Ski Ranch: TBA
